Hizb ut-Tahrir Strongly Denies Russian Claims Of Terrorism

London, UK, December 25 – Following the announcement by the Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev earlier today of the arrest of 12 members of Hizb ut-Tahrir in the Russian Federation, Hizb ut-Tahrir, the non-violent Islamic political party that is spearheading the global work for the return of the Islamic Khilafah [Caliphate], strongly denies the claims of the Russian government that the party and its members are involved in violence, terrorism or militancy.

In recent weeks and months, the Russian government has continued to allege that Hizb ut-Tahrir is linked to terrorism and has undertaken a brutal campaign of raids, arrests and intimidation in a vain attempt to thwart Hizb ut-Tahrir’s continuing intellectual and political work in Russia. In response to this, Hizb ut-Tahrir distributed a Russian leaflet throughout the whole of Russia that explained the work of the party and exposed the harassment that its members face at the hands of the security services. The leaflet also confirmed that Hizb ut-Tahrir does not engage in violence or material struggle in order to re-establish the Islamic Khilafah. Not surprisingly, this leaflet was not mentioned and did not elicit a response by the state-controlled media that operates under military censorship.

No credible evidence to support the allegations they have made about Hizb ut-Tahrir has been brought forward. Dozens of party members arrested in the past by the FSB were later released through lack of credible evidence. In a phenomena widely documented by human rights organisations, FSB officers have a track record of planting evidence and fabricating such cases to build their careers. Similar tactics, reminiscent of the KGB era, are employed against the party across Russia and Central Asia.

Commenting on this new wave of arrests in Russia, Dr Imran Waheed, the Representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, said, “The Russian government is resorting to increasingly desperate measures to malign Hizb ut-Tahrir – despite this we continue to grow in strength and popularity in the region and the return of the Islamic Khilafah [Caliphate] is on the horizon.”

“The criminal Putin fears the imminent return of the Islamic Khilafah which will unify the vast armies and resources of the Muslim world, end the influence of colonialism in Central Asia and hold him to account for his continued oppression and injustice towards Muslims.”

Notes to Editors:

Hizb ut-Tahrir is an independent Islamic political party. The party works throughout the Islamic world to resume the Islamic way of life by re-establishing the Islamic Khilafah [Caliphate]. The party adheres to Islamic law in all aspects of its work and considers violence or armed struggle against the regime, as a method to re-establish the Islamic State, to be forbidden by Islamic law. In the Western world, the party seeks to explain the Islamic ideology to Muslims, to create a dialogue with Western thinkers and to present a positive image of Islam to Western society.